by Silver James
She blushed, and slid her gaze away from his for a long moment. “I was busy and I forgot when I was due for my shot. I wasn’t dating anyone so it wasn’t a big deal. You used condoms. And then...” She made an exploding gesture with her fingers. “My world sort of blew up. By the time I remembered about the Depo shot, it was too late. I was throwing up and buying a pregnancy test.”
“Were you ever going to tell me?” He sounded...hurt. That surprised her.
“Yeah. Eventually. I don’t want you to feel obligated, Cooper.”
“Yeah, you don’t get it. I am obligated. You say you want to take responsibility. Well, guess what, Girl Wonder. It took both of us to make that baby.” His lips curved up into a smile that would melt the panties off any woman who saw it. “As you say, the chemistry between us is exceptional. So, we’ll get married and I’ll take care of you and the baby.”
“No.”
“Why are you being so stubborn about this? Any other woman would be jumping at the chance.”
“I’m not any other woman. I’m me.”
Now it was his turn to sigh, close his eyes and rub his temple. When he looked at her again, his expression caused her heart to skip a beat. “If you won’t marry me, I want joint custody.”
Ten
Cooper didn’t smirk at the look of surprised confusion on Britt’s face. He’d remained very calm. He had to, given the evidence. The timing was right. The condom had broken. And, at least according to Leo, Britt didn’t date or fool around. Except she had with him. He thought back to that night. She’d come on hot and heavy. The sex had been her idea. But then she’d disappeared the next morning. He didn’t get the sense she was scamming him, though a guy could never be too careful.
“Are you kidding me?” she finally asked.
“Nope.” He wasn’t kidding. If the DNA test proved the kid was his, he’d support the child monetarily, but also emotionally. No way he’d go for anything besides joint custody. Of course, that would give him lots of reasons to hang around Britt. He wouldn’t have been at all unhappy if she’d agreed to marry him. He was already half in love with her, crazy as that seemed. He wasn’t the only brother who’d been hit by the Curse of the Tate Men. He always capitalized the phrase like it was a title or was important. Denver, his dad, sat each of his brothers down in their early teens for the birds and the bees talk, and he finished with two admonitions—always wear a condom and beware of the Curse of the Tate Men.
“Tate men,” Denver Tate had said in that booming voice of his, “are cursed to love only one woman and to love her hard and forever. You’ll know when the right one comes along. Don’t be settlin’ for less, boy. You hear me?”
As sure as his mother wore pearls, he’d been cursed.
And frankly, it didn’t feel too bad. Britt was funny, intelligent, gorgeous, stubborn. Well, okay. Maybe that last one should go in the negative column but at least things would never get boring. She reminded him of his mother just a little bit, not that he would ever mention that to either woman. He might be dumb but he wasn’t stupid.
“Why in the world would a man like you want to share joint custody of a child?”
“A man like me?” He didn’t mean for his voice to sound quite as threatening as it came out but his tone sure made Britt sit up and take notice. Wide-eyed and pressed back in her chair, she stared at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She swallowed hard and he watched her throat work, which stirred up things inside him. Nope, chemistry was never a problem between them. When she just continued to stare, he cocked a brow—a dare he knew she couldn’t resist.
“Well, you know.”
“No, I don’t know. That’s why I asked.”
“You’re rich.”
“I also work for a living.”
“You’re single.”
“I offered to marry you.”
“What do you know about kids?”
“I have nieces and nephews.” Well, a niece and a nephew that were Tates. There were more if he included the Barron cousins.
“Why would you want to tie yourself down?”
“Why would you?”
Her mouth opened. Closed. Opened. Closed. Forehead furrowed, she studied him. “Why would you even ask that?”
He held up his right index finger. “You work for a living—two jobs. One of which has crazy hours.” He added his middle finger. “You’re single.” He ticked up a third finger. “What do you know about kids?”
Britt did the whole fish out of water imitation again before clamping her mouth shut. “Point to you,” she finally admitted. “But you’re a guy.”
“Glad you noticed.”
“Gah.” She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. I figured a man like you would be glad to be absolved of responsibility.”
“Well, I’m not. In fact, I’m kinda offended you’d think that.”
That got a reaction. She rocked back, tucking her chin as she frowned. “I don’t know what to say to that.”
“Considering that you keep insulting me, maybe you should only open your mouth to eat.” He didn’t hide the smile sliding across his face as he considered other things he’d like her mouth to do. He focused on his own meal while watching her out of his peripheral vision. He’d call Chance once he and Britt were finished to fill him in on current events and to get some safeguards set up, just in case Britt continued to balk.
And didn’t that make him all cool, calm and collected. He should be angry at the most, dubious and suspicious at the least. Except she hadn’t shown up on his doorstep demanding things. In fact, Britt had done her best to avoid him. Then she refused his offer of marriage. He still wanted a DNA test but he knew with a certainty that surprised him the child was his.
“When’s your next doctor’s appointment?”
She very carefully chewed and swallowed the bite she’d just forked into her mouth before responding. “Why?”
“Because I’m going with you.”
“Oh no you—”
“Yes. I need to speak to his—”
“Her. My OB is female.”
“Good to know. I need to give her staff my insurance and contact information. I should help cover medical expenses. Besides, I want to be there.”
Taken aback, she considered his offer. “It’s an ultrasound.”
“Good.”
“Do you even know what that is?”
He leveled her with a cool-eyed look. “Yes. When are you scheduled?”
“Right before Christmas.”
“Give me the date, time and place. I’ll be there.”
* * *
Cooper faced the room full of men. Their expressions matched the roles they were there to play. He was not looking forward to breaking the news to his family. They’d be concerned. He also wondered if he should warn Britt. His relatives, especially the Barron wives—or Bee Dubyas for short—could get overwhelming in a hurry.
He needed a cup of coffee before the dam broke. Nikki, ever her omniscient and efficient self, bumped through his office door bearing a tray full of mugs and a large thermal carafe of coffee. She flashed a cheeky grin and in a loud stage whisper said, “My birthday is next month and there’s a pair of diamond earrings I’ve had my eye on. I’ll put them on the company card in lieu of a bonus for my years of selfless service.”
She deposited the tray on his desk and gave a perky wiggle of her fingers as she exited. Cord watched her leave before he turned to Coop. “She has a company card?”
Cooper stared at him. “Well...yeah. Doesn’t Maureen?”
“Well...yeah, but that’s different.”
He rolled his eyes at his cousin and boss. “Sure it is.”
Glancing toward the door, Cord muttered something about the accountants and discussing with his administrative assistant how she used the credit ca
rd. Coop laughed. “If Nikki actually followed through every time she threatened to buy diamonds with that card, we’d own stock in Tiffany’s.”
“Now that joke time is over,” Chance interrupted, his lawyer face firmly in place, “we need to talk about this situation with Britt Owens.”
“Not a situation, Chance, and we aren’t doing a thing.”
“Cooper,” Bridger started.
“Look, I called y’all last night after I forced the issue with Britt. Paternity is not confirmed but it will be. What I need from you, Chance—”
Cash jumped into the conversation. “Chance is right, Cooper. We need to step back and assess things. We’ve all been here.”
“Except me,” Bridger said. “I’m the good son.”
Cooper nailed him in the head with a wadded-up ball of paper. “You better knock wood, Bridge. I was with Britt. In Beaumont. The times line up.” His pronouncement dropped into a well of silence. “I’m pretty sure I’m the father of her baby.”
“Dad taught us better, Coop.”
“I wore a condom, Bridger. Both times.”
“Wait,” Cord interrupted. “Britt was the one who disappeared on you down there? The one you’ve been mooning over since you got home in September.”
Bridger nodded sagely. “Yup. She would be the one. Mom had it figured out before any of the rest of us but, man...” He shook his head now, looking dubious. “The timing on her little announcement is all kinds of wrong.”
“I’ve never been with that Susie...” Coop snapped his fingers a couple of times trying to recall her name. “Maddox. Have no clue who she is. And the DNA test will prove I’m not the father of her baby. I’m not in the habit of discussing my sex life with anyone much less you miscreants yet I’ve admitted that Britt and I were together.”
Cord leaned back in his chair. “So if you wore a condom, how can you be so sure the baby is yours?”
“Because the damn thing broke.”
Chance put down his coffee mug. “I want you to think very carefully about how you answer this, Cooper.” His gaze was so intent, Coop had to clear his throat. Then he nodded, waiting for what Chance would say next. “What exactly do you mean by the condom broke?”
Coop could almost see the air quotes around those last four words. “Because when I took it off, the top had partially separated from the sides. It broke, Chance.”
“She could have messed with it. Did she have the chance to get at your wallet?” his ever-helpful boss asked.
“Yeah...about that. I used the one in my wallet the night before.”
“So she gave you the condom?” Chance pushed. “She could have poked a hole in the package.”
“No!” Coop glared at his cousin. “She didn’t touch the thing. I dug it out of the drawer on the bedside table of the company’s RV.” He felt sheepish and probably looked like it if the expressions on his brothers’ and cousins’ faces were any indication. “Who knew those things come with an expiration date. It had been in the drawer for...a really long time.”
The others exchanged looks and Coop felt like he was fourteen again, getting The Lecture from his dad—the one about girls and condoms and the Curse of the Tate Men.
Coop could still hear his dad’s voice, a rich baritone with an edge, a gruff gravelly tone like he smoked two packs a day, though the man had only smoked seven cigars in his entire life. One for each of his sons. He missed his dad so much. A big man who worked with his hands, an old-school rancher who’d given his sons all the right advice. Then he’d died. Sudden cardiac death, the doctor said. He and Tucker had found him in the barn, sitting on a bale of hay, looking like he was taking a nap.
He’d watched Deke fall in love and then Tucker. And told both of them that they weren’t being smart to fall so hard and fast. Quin and Noelle completed Deke, just as Zoe and Nash did the same for Tuck. Neither child was a Tate by blood, but they sure were by love. Deke and Quin had adopted Noelle and Tuck had adopted Zoe’s little boy. Britt’s baby was his. Did he love Britt? He wasn’t sure. Was he falling in love with her? Oh, yeah. She wasn’t anything he’d ever wanted in a woman but he’d discovered she was everything he wanted.
His phone pinged a reminder and he breathed a little easier. Inquisition over. “Britt’s having an ultrasound this morning. I’m not missing it because y’all are doing this intervention thing. I plan to marry her, but just in case, I want papers...” He met Chance’s concerned gaze. “Joint custody. If she won’t marry me, I want joint custody. Make it happen.”
Time to make his exit before his brother and cousins pounced. “I know y’all planned an intervention. I don’t need one.”
He exited to the sound of stunned silence.
* * *
Sitting in the break room at the TV station killing time before her appointment, Britt couldn’t quite meet Ria’s gaze. She sipped her orange juice, wondering why no one had figured out how to caffeinate juice. Oh, wait. That would be soda pop. But as far as coffee was concerned, her doctor insisted she cut back on the only substance guaranteed to get her through the day.
“Girl, you make me crazy.” Ria tsked, shaking her head, an indulgent expression on her face. “At least he’s stepping up and taking responsibility just on your say-so. That’s got to be a first in that family.”
She snorted. “Oh, he demanded a DNA test, but he’s also convinced that he’s the father.”
“Which he is. You’re my best friend. I can count the number of men you’ve slept with on one hand. And none of them in at least the last year. Of course he’s the father.”
Coughing to hide her mutter, Britt said, “Two years.”
She’d been such an idiot that first time with Cooper. Seeing Leo—a huge man full of muscles and swagger—felled by a stupid trash can lid had done something to her. Watching the water rise, the wind rip buildings apart, knowing that people were going to die? All of that settled deep in her soul, making her understand how fragile life truly was. And how alone she was. When Cooper opened the door to the BarEx offices, all she’d wanted to do was burrow into his arms and hide. To do something spontaneous and outrageous and not like her. So she had. She’d grabbed life with both hands and propositioned him.
That night had been totally worth it. And then when he’d rescued her and the others that next night? And the morning that followed? Heck yeah, she’d cut and run both times out of fear and a sense of self-preservation. The man was a potent combination of funny and handsome, of brains and muscles, and all the things that made the alarm on her biological clock ring. And when that condom broke? Her sadly neglected ovaries must have gone into overdrive.
“I’m an idiot,” she muttered.
“Yes and no. I think you’re being smart to take things slow.” Ria reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “He’s taking care of the bills. That’s only right. And he’s interested. Good grief, the chemistry between you two is off the charts. Get to know him.” She held up her free hand, cutting off Britt’s intended retort. “I’m aware he asked you to marry him, and you think it’s out of some antiquated sense of duty. Maybe it is but let me tell you, Miz Britt, men like that are few and far between. Date. Let him take care of things. Get. To. Know. Him. Who knows? That chemistry might just turn into the real deal.”
And that was precisely what scared her the most.
Eleven
Britt walked into her doctor’s office and halted midstep. Cooper stood at the check-in window, one elbow braced casually on the tall counter as he spoke to the receptionist. The woman stared at him raptly, like he was some Olympic god come to earth or something. Okay, he did look utterly awesome in those pressed jeans, boots, a shirt as blue as his eyes, and the leather jacket.
Everything went into slow motion as he turned his head to look at Britt, a smile teasing those so-kissable lips of his, the fluorescent lights catching in his eyes so that they twin
kled. He checked her out, from head to toe, and heat washed over her.
Then she saw red as the totally skinny and primped woman behind the counter slid a card toward Coop and Britt read her lips. “Here’s my number. Call me anytime.”
Cooper ignored the woman and her card. Instead, he stalked across the office toward Britt. She forced air into her lungs. Who knew breathing was so hard to do? The red faded from her vision, but she noticed the gaze of every female in the place, from sixteen to sixty, was trained on him. The testosterone haze he exuded was so potent, she was pretty sure he could get a girl pregnant just by looking at her. Of course, she knew all about that, didn’t she?
“Howdy, Girl Wonder.”
No, her panties were not going to disappear just from the sound of his voice or the heat in his eyes. Nope. Not happening. Nor would she swoon because if she did, he’d catch her, and she’d be a goner if he touched her.
“Fancy meeting you here, Hero Boy.”
“I keep tellin’ you—”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re not a boy. And I’m not a girl. I need to get checked in.”
After she signed in, he led her to a couch set back in the far corner of the waiting room. They didn’t have time to sit before her name was called.
Britt turned to go, stopping when Coop touched her arm. “I’d really...” He cleared his throat and she saw raw emotion shine through his eyes for a moment. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go back with you.”
Her first instinct was to say, “No way.” But she couldn’t resist the plea in his eyes. “Okay.”
The sonographer was all smiles as she walked them back to a fairly large room with an exam table, a couch and a comfy chair. A utilitarian cart filled with all sorts of electronic gear was parked next to the exam table. A giant-screen TV was mounted to the opposite wall.
“You can pull the chair over close to our little momma, if you want, Dad.”
Britt gritted her teeth. Why did so many health care workers get all honey-sweet and cutesy? Their demeanor irritated the snot out of her on a good day and today? Today was so not a good day. She woke up with indigestion, a frantic need to pee and a headache. Then she’d had to cover a class for another adjunct professor who’d decided to take off for Christmas early, which meant an unplanned trip to the campus in Norman. And her truck was sitting on empty so she had to stop and get gas. The automatic shutoff on the hose didn’t click off when her tank was full, gasoline spilled on her shoes and she’d gotten into a shouting match with the convenience store clerk over the mess.